Afghan Deportations Appear Paused, Bringing Fragile Relief to Detainees in the US

Dozens of Afghans who are currently in the US but fear being deported back to Afghanistan and possibly killed by the Taliban are experiencing fragile relief this weekend after it appeared that the Trump administration had put on hold plans to remove them within days.

Members of Congress and advocates have repeatedly warned that the deportations could effectively be a death sentence. The whole group numbers more than 150 Afghans, the New York Times reported, and the AP previously reported that the federal government intends to route these detainees to their home country via Pakistan.

A flight originally scheduled to transport the group out of the US on election day earlier this month had stayed grounded after a federal judge issued a court order temporarily blocking its departure to Afghanistan or neighboring Pakistan.

As that temporary court order expired last weekend, immigration advocates battling to prevent the deportations talked of dreading that the detainees could be forced to leave the US during the week of 16 November. This prospect was based on a rescheduled removal date given for at least one Afghan man currently in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention who was due to be on the flight.

Late on Tuesday, it was learned that that detainee, along with a handful of other detained Afghans on the original flight manifest, now no longer had a specified departure date issued by the US government. Some immigration lawyers also reported that their Afghan clients had been moved from staging facilities to long-term detention facilities, suggesting they would not be forced onto a deportation flight in the coming days after all.

Amid some confusion and often few details from the administration, Shawn VanDiver, founder and president of the US non-profit coalition #AfghanEvac, said a sensation of fragile relief had descended on the people involved. Some of the Afghans in the targeted group have relatives who assisted the US war on Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 that drove out the Taliban, he said.

VanDiver said that in a matter of days, these allies were told they were being sent through Pakistan into the hands of the Taliban, then told they were safe, then told that nobody knows. That is not immigration policy, he said; it is whiplash inflicted on people who already survived a war. He also slammed any option to use Pakistan as a conduit for forced rendition.

Immigration advocates are hoping continued pressure will result in further delays and the ultimate cancellation of that flight and any others planned for the coming weeks. In the meantime, #AfghanEvac is pushing what will become the newly Democratic-controlled Congress in January to pass a bipartisan bill that has been drafted and would give Afghans who are already in the US temporary protected status (TPS) through July 2029, with a vetting process. The US Supreme Court in June allowed the Trump administration to strip such protections, including from Afghans.

Among the passengers reported to be on the blocked flight were Afghans whose relatives helped American troops, women, at least one gay man and members of the minority ethnic Hazara group, some of whom have said they were previously beaten by the Taliban.

Human Rights First, the US-based human rights group, has warned about grave, systematic dangers for Afghans returned to Afghanistan. That includes arbitrary detentions, executions, public flogging and retaliatory violence, as well as restrictions on basic freedoms for women and girls.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in response to questions and a request for comment that the agency complies with all lawful court orders and that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not comment on or confirm prospective removal operations, for operational security reasons and the safety of its officers.

Sari Arvey, director of policy, refugee and immigrant rights at Human Rights First, said the Trump administration's targeting of Afghans reflects a broader trend of creating arrangements with other governments to send people back to war zones, security crises and countries that don't have diplomatic relations with the US. The US suspended relations with Afghanistan after the Taliban government came to power.